Podcast appearances and mentions of richard rushfield

In the final edition of this season's Hollywood Stories, Richard Rushfield got to talk about "The Traitors" — a show of which he is an unapologetic superfan — with executive producer Mike Cotton, the man who brought it to both the U.K. and U.S. Originally a Dutch format, Traitors landed in Cotton's hands when he snapped up the rights and then “took that idea and helped supersize it for a U.K. and U.S. audience,” as he puts it. Cotton shares how the show's contestants get sucked into the game, why his team takes a “hands-off approach” to let the drama develop — and what might lie ahead for Peacock's breakout hit. “What I love about this show is it's a really rich world,” Cotton says. “We can take inspiration from murder mysteries, from thrillers, from horror movies, and we're constantly thinking of what we can do different.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's Hollywood Stories, Richard Rushfield sits down with TV comedy legend Nell Scovell — creator of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and writer for everything from The Simpsons to Late Night with David Letterman.Before breaking into TV, Scovell sharpened her voice at Spy and Vanity Fair, where editors Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter taught her to “be funnier, go harder, be meaner.” She shares how she defied her agent to leave Vanity Fair and dive into the boys' club of TV writers rooms, a dynamic she was still battling decades later — even on The Muppets in the 2010s.She also opens up about her sharp, hilarious memoir Just the Funny Parts, which she jokes she really wanted to title, “Penis, Penis, Penis, Penis, Me, Penis.” (Scovell: "It would have sold more.") Richard calls it “one of the best memoirs of working in television I've ever read.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Hollywood Stories: Tales From Television, Richard Rushfield takes us back to the heyday of the original “American Idol” in the aughts and early 2010s, when the Fox juggernaut dominated conversation everywhere from “Howard Stern” to the “Today” show and produced megastars like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. But there was one powerful figure behind the scenes whose quiet devotion touched future superstars from Katherine McPhee to Jordin Sparks: Pastor Leesa Bellesi. Through her American Idol Ministry, Bellesi not only prayed for the success of these contestants, but she also helped them and their families navigate the harsh spotlight of sudden fame that glared upon even the ones who didn't make it far. Richard chronicled Bellisi's incredible journey in his 2011 book, “American Idol: The Untold Story,” and now, more than two decades later, they revisit it together as she recalls her spiritual connection with the show and its stars — from the Bible passage that bonded her with McPhee to a fateful prayer circle with judge Paula Abdul. "It was such a God thing," she tells Richard. "The prayers that I prayed in that room are living themselves out still to this day." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second episode of Hollywood Stories' sophomore season, Richard Rushfield talks to the brilliant and bawdy Bruce Vilanch, known as the longtime joke purveyor extraordinaire for the Oscars (plus the Emmys, Tonys and more). But before he became the go-to for Hollywood galas, Vilanch got his start in writing for the big variety shows and specials that peppered the network schedules of the 1960s and '70s and represent the height of television's most flamboyant and unhinged period. Expanding on some of the wildest misadventures chronicled in  his new book, “It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time,” Vilanch takes Richard through three of those song-and-dance spectaculars — the “Star Wars Holiday Special” that George Lucas famously disowned, the “Paul Lynde Halloween Special” and the short-lived series “The Brady Bunch Hour.” From writing material for graceless Wookiees to putting Robert Reed's Mike Brady in Carmen Miranda drag, Vilanch revels in how right it felt when everything went fantastically wrong. “It was ridiculous, but I had fun,” he recalls. “A lot of these things were conceived in clouds of smoke.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood Stories is back! The Ankler pod series returns, this time focusing on untold tales from the world of TV as shared by the people who work in its trenches. In this debut episode of season two, Richard Rushfield hosts a revealing, in-depth interview with four creative minds behind Netflix's hilarious, animated (but decidedly not-for-little-kids) hit, ‘Big Mouth,' whose eighth and final season drops on May 23. Comedians and co-creators Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg swing by to discuss their silly, simpatico partnership that dates back to first grade, their own anxieties from puberty, and how they used their celebrity pull to get Hugh Jackman, Jordan Peele, Paul Giamatti and others to sign on for appearances. Richard also sits down with veteran writers and fellow co-creators Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, who explain why you can never go too far in pushing the risqué envelope and why ‘Big Mouth' could never in a million years have happened at a network. Says Flackett, "It would have been a different show." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ankler himself Richard Rushfield joins Katey to look back at the series of disasters that have been facing Hollywood for the past decade, and the hope that still remains for escaping it. Then Katey talks to Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy and executive producer and star Diego Luna about the show's ambitious, moving final episodes, and why Andor may be the first show ever to say it's being made like a long movie and actually pull that off. Subscribe⁠⁠⁠ to the Prestige Junkie newsletter.  Follow Katey on ⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠⁠.  ⁠⁠⁠Follow The Ankler. 

Really believe Trump wants to bring production back stateside? Or that California Gov. Gavin Newsom can work with him to do it? Think again, says Richard Rushfield, who joins Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey to break down the fantasy of a tariff or federal incentive, the impact already from the trade war, Newsom's failings that precipitated all of this — and why Richard thinks any action to bring production back is 25 years too late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood in crisis! When is Hollywood not in crisis? This week on the podcast, the tariffs have come home to roost in Tinseltown. Neal Pollack hosts Richard Rushfield of The Ankler to discuss what in the hell is going on. Why couldn't Jon Voight stop Trump from issuing tariff threats? Is Trump serious? Maybe it's good to have a President who's actually engaging in issues that threaten the movie industry. Maybe he wants to help? No one has any idea what's happening, which makes it all suspenseful and vaguely fun, like a good studio genre picture. Richard empties what's left of his brain and he and Neal try to break down the issues.There are no issues with 'Thunderbolts,' a current hit from that underdog Marvel Studios. Richard went to the world premiere in Los Angeles, and, frankly, he found the buffet kind of wanting. I mean, it tasted good, but was maybe a little skimpy. You could say the same about Thunderbolts, which, let's face it, is trying to sell us some C-list heroes as A-list heroes and it's hard to tell if people are going to bite permanently or not. There's so much Bob, so little Spider-Man. And that buffet? My lord.Matthew Ehrlich makes a late-episode appearance to absolutely ravage Tina Fey's remake of a very dated Alan Alda movie called 'The Four Seasons.' Except that this isn't a movie. It's a four-hour miniseries on Netflix. No one cares about these three couples who are somehow supposed to be able to afford to take four luxury vacations a year. Together. Matthew wonders why the gay couple, half of whom is Colman Domingo, would even consider going on holiday with such boring straight people. Once, maybe, because they went to Vassar together. But four times? In a year? What are we doing here, people. Everyone loved Alan Alda back in the day, but Matthew broaches the unthinkable: That maybe Tina Fey has peaked. We will rue such words, I'm sure.Enjoy the podcast!

On this week's BFG Podcast, we welcome in our friend Richard Rushfield, who takes time away from his deli-going schedule from time to time to stop by to talk to host Neal Pollack about issues and trends in Hollywood. Richard is recently back from Cinemcon, the annual Las Vegas convention for theater owners, who always have one question: "Does your movie star Dwayne Johnson, or does it star Ryan Reynolds?" Headier artistic questions don't concern them.For the first time in many years, Richard says, major franchises had no representation at Cinema Con. There was no Fast and Furious movie to tout. Even superhero offerings seemed kind of muted. The idea of a 90-day theatrical window went out the, well, window during COVID, and now they're trying to claw back a 45-day theatrical window. That seems highly unlikely. Finally, the conversation turns to what all of America has been waiting to hear about: Richard Rushfield's sleep apnea. It's a major problem for, we assume, his wife, but also for theatergoers around him when he takes his traditional nap an hour into a turkey. Neal and Richard try to find a workaround.BFG has also given near round-the-clock coverage of 'Drop,' an unserious thriller about cell phone misuse and bad dates that has been bombing at the box office since it released two years ago. Pablo Gallaga joins Neal to talk about 'Drop,' as the two of them continue to try to sell the public on the fact that this is the genre of the moment, the blood-soaked violence picture with a bit of cheeky comedy. We will write retrospectives about this genre, if not songs. Drop is pretty bad, they both agree, and it also accelerates a trend in modern pictures of extreme violence against women played as entertainment. How many females slammed into coffee tables do we really need to see?These are the important questions we ask at the BFG Podcast. Enjoy the show!

Can Jeff Bezos be trusted with 007? Is James Gunn the hero DC needs right now? Will Casey Bloys help Harry Potter make it safely to TV? All of Hollywood's signature IP franchises face uncertain, perilous paths forward, and Richard Rushfield, Elaine Low and Sean McNulty decide whether they'd buy, sell or hold these tentpoles plus Marvel and Star Wars. Plus: The crew guesses which five series earned the coveted writers' streaming performance bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the 97th Academy Awards finally in the rearview, Katey gathers a murderers' row of former guests to share their final takeaway from this topsy turvy season. Answering the question "What did you learn from this year's Oscars?" are Esther Zuckerman, Jordan Hoffman, Richard Rushfield, Tyler Coates, Michael Shulman, Sam Adams, Rebecca Ford, Shirley Li, Matt Patches, David Canfield, Chris Murphy, Sean Fennessey, Alison Brower, and Chris Feil. Join us, and then you never have to think about this year's Oscars again. Subscribe to the Prestige Junkie newsletter.  Follow Katey on X and Letterboxd.  Follow The Ankler. 

Broadcast TV may be what “your uncle and your mom watches,” but it's a bright spot for the studios. Series Business' Lesley Goldberg joins Elaine Low to discuss her interview with CBS President Amy Reisenbach, why all those spinoffs and reboots give producers an “edge” and how year-round development helps “get the creative right.” Plus: Elaine, Sean McNulty and Richard Rushfield discuss what the earnings of CBS parent Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery portend — no need for more sports, says Zaz! — and final Oscar thoughts before the big show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As President Trump seeks to banish diversity, equity and inclusion, Disney buried its initiative this week, and Amazon continues to “evolve” its own. Sean McNulty, Elaine Low, Richard Rushfield and contributor Nicole LaPorte dive into whether Hollywood was ever committed to the cause — as Nicole says, “the erosion of DEI here has been going on for a quite a while” — and how to tell a real pronouncement from a fake one. Plus: How the L.A. wildfires have fueled a real estate frenzy while TV workers debate whether to flee the city altogether. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disney started its latest earnings call with an uncharacteristically terse Bob Iger avoiding a trio of unpleasant topics: linear TV, declining Disney+ subscriber totals and Donald Trump. What wasn't said spoke volumes, but a few messages rang clear: film keeps churning out hits, ESPN has good/less good news, and the streaming division is firmly in the black. Meanwhile, SEC filings paint a bleak start to the future SpinCo, and a look inside the do-or-die #StayinLA movement. Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield break it all down. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mase & Sue give their Super Bowl picks and entertainment journalist Richard Rushfield talks about the beginnings of his candid, insightful industry newsletter,

Richard Rushfield on creating The Ankler & how to save the Oscars.

Just two deals and Sundance is almost over? Ouch. Richard Rushfield, on the ground at the fest, gives his report on indie malaise and how to fix it. Plus: Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard on Peacock and NBCU's troubling Q4, and Netflix's showy 2025 slate, while Natalie Jarvey, author of the new Like & Subscribe newsletter, on why Hollywood absolutely should “work with” the creators upending entertainment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who loves doing free work? No one. Who loves getting free work? The studios. “If-come” deals — where a writer develops a show under contract but only sees money if the show sells — are on the rise post-Writers Guild strike and have led to a new “involuntary servitude,” even among big-name scribes. Ashley Cullins joins Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield to outline what's happening and who's fighting back. Plus: Katey Rich breaks down Oscar nominations, and Elaine shares the state of the unscripted market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katey shares instant reactions to this year's Oscar nominations with Esther Zuckerman, then shares segments of a Substack Live session with Richard Rushfield, asking some of the bigger questions about what this years nominations mean for Hollywood. Want to be part of our next Substack Live? Become a paid subscriber to The Ankler and join us! Subscribe to the Prestige Junkie newsletter.  Follow Katey on X and Letterboxd.  Follow The Ankler. 

Can Jon Voight save Hollywood? Probably not. But President Trump's announcement that the Midnight Cowboy, Mad Max (Mel Gibson) and Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) would be his “special envoys” in L.A. on the eve of his inauguration followed the latest report on L.A.'s continued production exodus. Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield dissect the numbers and where the industry is heading in 2025. Plus: How is Gen Z outfoxing studio and streaming marketers? Matthew Frank explains.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I'm joined by Richard Rushfield and Katey Rich of The Ankler to discuss the state of the awards season post-Golden Globes and in the midst of the Los Angeles fires. (Indeed, Los Angeles resident Richard is in the city to give us an on-the-ground update of the state of things from his perspective. Please excuse any background noise/distortion that you may hear as a result!) We talked about how the Globes might affect the Oscars, how the Globes has devolved into an incestuous web of self-dealing, and how the fires might affect Academy Award voting patterns. We also discussed the new Ankler Pundits prediction site, which I am honored to have been asked to take part in. Check it out and feel free to mock my picks. And look: I understand the impulse to avoid discussing awards given everything that's going on out west. I want to reiterate that there are good charities that can be donated to if you're looking to help out: If you can't wait to donate, you can never go wrong with José Andrés's World Central Kitchen, which has teams on the ground helping feed first responders. Two additional charities I've had folks recommend are Global Empowerment Mission and the California Community Foundation. I'm sure they'll all make good use of every penny. I also think halting the awards will do little to improve anyone's financial standing and will in fact hurt the folks who work for all the ancillary events. Not just the awards shows themselves, but the parties, the limo drivers, the caterers, the dress designers, people whose whole year is made or broken by this stretch in Los Angeles. Awards may feel silly but even silly things can be worthwhile, particularly when your livelihood depends on it. If you enjoyed this show, I hope you share it with a friend.

“Everybody was feeling really optimistic going into this year,” says Elaine Low — and while there are encouraging signs for Hollywood, from new business models to a return to the fundamentals, she and Richard Rushfield tell Sean McNulty about friends who have lost homes, Richard's memories of growing up in Pacific Palisades, and Elaine's anxiety over suddenly preparing a go-bag. On a lighter note: They also dissect their night at Netflix's WWE Raw premiere — with Richard announcing whom he'll be fighting at the next WrestleMania. We're collecting stories of how the entertainment community is coping with the Los Angeles fires. Submit yours here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the capstone of his Hollywood Stories series exploring the 1990s — an era of explosive creativity and innovation in the entertainment industry — Richard Rushfield talks to two execs who helped New Line Cinema become the movie studio of that golden moment. Mike De Luca is today the co-chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, but in the '90s he was the head of production at New Line, a powerful role he stepped into at the tender age of 27. Richard Brener started as a temp at New Line in 1995 and never left, working his way up to run the studio (now a division of Warner Bros.) as its president and chief creative officer. Together they recall how the indie house launched by Bob Shaye in 1967 struck gold nearly 30 years later with comedy blockbusters (Austin Powers, Dumb and Dumber, Rush Hour, The Wedding Singer) and revered auteur-driven dramas (American History X, Boogie Nights, Se7en). As an indie, "you were kind of locked into lower-budget acquisitions and films — that all coalesced into a business plan of sleeper hits," De Luca says. “We were not afraid of trying things that we liked, even if other people had passed on them.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katey and Richard Rushfield continue their look back at the year that was in Hollywood, selecting the year's standout performances in everything from little-seen Sundance indies to some likely future Oscar winners. It's enough good work to even make Richard feel a little optimistic as the new year begins. Subscribe to the Prestige Junkie newsletter.  Follow Katey on X and Letterboxd.  Follow The Ankler. 

Blake Lively alleges a full-on smear campaign aimed against her. Justin Baldoni claims the star of his It Ends With Us used the New York Times to destroy his reputation. Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield discuss the fallout of the feud heard round the world, the YouTube journalist roped into the ruckus, and why Richard boils it all down to typical Hollywood bluster. Plus: The crew breaks down how animation and IP defined the 2024 box office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Rushfield joins Katey to look back at the year in film, which Richard thinks is one of the worst in the history of studio filmmaking — if not the worst — but still scrounged up enough titles to get excited about. The episode also includes Katey's conversation with Javier Bardem about his chilling performance on the limited series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story — and his surprisingly moving motivation for taking on a very different kind of character in a recent, criminally underseen children's film. Subscribe to the Prestige Junkie newsletter.  Follow Katey on X and Letterboxd.  Follow The Ankler. 

At the dawn of the internet as we know it today, long before social media exploded the Hollywood hierarchy, there was Ain't It Cool News, an in-your-face site, launched in 1996, that covered the movie business — passionately, disruptively and absolutely without fear or favor. Drew McWeeny, who joined Harry Knowles' Austin startup in its earliest days, writing from L.A. under the pseudonym Moriarty, tells Richard Rushfield how Ain't It Cool News remade entertainment journalism, confounded the studios and enraged execs from Tom Rothman to Rupert Murdoch. Among other breaks with industry-coverage norms, McWeeny and his colleagues were the first to publish reports and reviews from test screenings, changing the fortunes of films including Batman & Robin and, most famously, Titanic. “I was addicted to Premiere, Movieline, all those magazines,” McWeeny recalls. “But it was all very carefully stage managed with the studios, and it had to be. We were the response to that, which was the most punk rock version of: No, not only do we not deal with the studios, but fuck the studios.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One sure precursor to any Golden Age in Hollywood? A long fallow period preceding it, not unlike the one we've been in. Now, with a spec market for originals coming back to life, and fresh opportunities for producers and writers to make money through YouTube, branded content, podcasts and yes, AI, Sean McNulty, Elaine Low, Richard Rushfield and Janice Min take stock of where the industry is heading in 2025 with cautious optimism. Plus: The gang dissects the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni smear campaign revelations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From founding CAA to leading Universal Studios, Ron Meyer built one of the entertainment industry's most storied careers. The high school dropout and former Marine talks with Richard Rushfield about his entire legendary run, especially the events surrounding the pivotal moment in 1995 when he successfully executed a maneuver that has stymied other sharks — leaving the talent ecosystem (and ending his partnership with CAA cofounder Mike Ovitz — "a marriage gone kind of sour”) to become a studio head. He also recalls what lured him to Hollywood ("I want to be the guy in that fast car with beautiful women"), the “ferocious” competition between his agency and William Morris, his “tug-of-war” with Barry Diller at Universal (where he lasted 25 years and survived six owners), the movies he's proudest of and why he's still an optimist about showbiz. “To the day I left Universal, I pinched myself,” he says of his Hollywood journey, which ended with his exit from the studio in 2020. “I always thought it was a miracle.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Rushfield sits down with Winnie Holzman, creator of the beloved but short-lived teen drama My So-Called Life, which ran for one 19-episode season from 1994-95 and later became a cross-generational cult hit. The show that launched Claire Danes and Jared Leto also captured adolescent angst onscreen in a totally new way — “School is a battlefield for your heart,” anyone? — that made ABC execs “deeply nervous,” says Holzman, though she was fiercely protected by her EPs and mentors, Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick. A student of poetry and the Stanislavski system, Holzman, in a candid, hilarious and nostalgic conversation, unpacks the emotion and humor that propelled her through multiple 1990s TV successes to the Broadway hit Wicked (she wrote the book of the musical) and its two-part film adaptation, whose first installment is in the Oscar hunt.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pro-free speech, anti-trans, anti a lot of things, the standup comedians who made their bones on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast — from Theo Von to notorious Trump rally opener Tony Hinchcliffe — are rewriting how big comics can get without movies and TV. Ankler contributor Lachlan Cartwright joins Sean McNulty to discuss why Gen Z loves these guys and how these comics' reps are building multi-million-dollar constellations around these dark stars. Plus, Elaine Low, Richard Rushfield and Sean explore WBD's “enhanced strategic flexibility” as studios decide now is finally the time to “see what we can do with our cable networks.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this new Ankler series, Hollywood Stories, we are starting with wild untold showbiz tales from the '90s. For our debut episode, Richard Rushfield sits down with Adam Leff and Zak Penn, the original screenwriters behind one of film's most iconic flops, Last Action Hero. Speaking publicly together for the first time about the screenplay they sold when they were just out of college 30 years ago, they recall the highs — a heady bidding war, a yes from megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger — and the cascading humiliations of the misbegotten project, which became a superlatively excessive and lousy product of the bloated Hollywood machine it was originally meant to parody. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is HBO heading into 2025? A major prestige cabler that can attract any talent it wants? An empire in decline? A little bit of both? Series Business writer Manori Ravindran was at the intimate London gathering where HBO chief Casey Bloys revealed plans for a Harry Potter series, and joins Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield to talk the storied brand's changed TV buying mandate, new frugality and if it needs a megahit to restore luster. Speaking of! Manori explains the new trick for selling series and getting them made: international co-productions, the kind of deal used on shows from The Day of the Jackal to The Night Manager. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neal Pollack sounds the alarm on this week's episode of the BFG Podcast, and brings in the big guns in the form of Richard Rushfield, columnist for The Ankler. Together they form a united front against the scourge of people talking, singing, texting, and otherwise being rude in movie theaters. Shame on Cynthia Erivo and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson for encouraging people to misbehave during their smash hit blockbusters. Cringe as Neal and Richard discuss their strategies to humiliate offenders. Imagine what it must be like to be members of their family. Glory is theirs, but a hero walks a lonely road.Writer and comedian Sheri Flanders joins Neal next to discuss yoga. That's right, yoga, in the form of 'Breath of Fire,' a compelling Max documentary about the cultish kundalini yoga. The documentary needed an edit and the cult of kundalini needed a bucket of cold water dumped on its head. But it's a tragedy and a story worth knowing. Come to listen to Neal talk about the true meaning of yoga. Sheri wisely does not follow Neal into the light. She has three crystals and that's all she needs.Omar Gallaga is very disappointed in the syrupy mess that is 'A Man on the Inside,' the Ted Danson Netflix "sadcom" based on an Oscar-nominated documentary. Both Omar and Neal have a lot of negativity toward this show, which, despite an amusing setup, quickly sinks into stereotype and refuses to engage realistically with the problems that seniors actually face in our society, which paradoxically might have made it funnier. Instead, Neal recommends the movie 'Thelma', airing on Hulu, which has a similarly high-concept premise but is in fact much more grounded in the real lives of senior citizens who outlive their friends, their spouses, and pretty much everyone else. It's a problem without an easy solution, and 'A Man On The Inside' just pours on the sap.What a great episode! Thanks for listening to the pod.

When The Good Wife co-creator Robert King saw that 139,000 produced TV and movie scripts — including his — were used for AI training, it “personalized” the AI issue for him. “There's something very offensive of someone just walking into your house, checking into your computer, grabbing everything and saying, Well, it's for the better good of training,” says King, who joins Elaine Low to discuss writers' reaction, why studios must take action and no one should believe Big Tech's assurances. Plus: Katey Rich joins Sean McNulty, Richard Rushfield and Elaine to game the Oscars race as it now stands, post-#Glicked. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't mind the $430 million revenue drop in linear over the last two years — Bob Iger would like to shift your attention over to streaming, where price hikes have proven a magical Disney attraction. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Richard Rushfield break down all the news from Disney's Q3 earnings call, new turns in the company's succession drama — and why Richard worries we're headed back to 1993, only worse. Plus: The crew predicts which films will top the holiday box office. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katey and Richard Rushfield join forces to pick movies from across movie history that are guaranteed to leave you feeling hopeful, no matter what the news has in store. Then Katey talks to The Piano Lesson star Danielle Deadwyler about everything that goes into her tremendous performances, from her knack for stillness to how she built trust with The Piano Lesson director Malcolm Washington.  Katey's list of Movies For Hope on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/kateyrich/list/movies-to-give-you-hope/ Richard's list: https://letterboxd.com/rrushfield/list/movies-to-make-you-feel-ok-when-the-world/ 

Today we bring you an audio podcast edition of the excellent cultural coverage we've been doing since the Second Coming of President Trump. Explaining political trends lies outside our core mission, but understanding cultural currents is why we exist.Bobby Hilliard joins host Neal Pollack to discuss the outsized impact that the Austin comedy and podcasting scene had on this election. Bobby, a comedy-scene insider, explains to Neal that even though figures like Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe are millionaires many times over, they have an unfiltered, no-bullshit casual tone that appeals to the modern audience that is tired of the artifice of the news and entertainment industries. After the pandemic, hundreds if not thousands of comedians moved to Austin because it was less expensive, restrictive, and dangerous than other American metro areas. And the city, which was dealing with a downturn in the music industry caused by an upturn in the tech industry, had a ton of empty performance spaces to host them. Elon Musk appeared on Rogan, said, "this place is cool," and the modern Republican cultural ethos was born.Neal ends the segment by telling Bobby that he, too, is going to start doing standup comedy. Bobby warns him that it's tough out there.But not as tough as it is in Hollywood. Richard Rushfield, columnist and founding light of The Ankler, joins Neal to discuss Hollywood's disastrous participation in this election. From the condescending tone of the Julia Roberts ad telling liberal women to defy their MAGA husbands in the voting booth, to the weird twerking of Megan Thee Stallion at a Kamala Harris rally, to the endless, clueless online endorsements, the traditional entertainment industry revealed itself as completely out of touch with reality. Richard talks about how young people don't respond to movies and TV like they once did. They like their celebrities unscripted and unfiltered. Neal points out that may have something to do with the success of Donald Trump. He's a celebrity, but he's a different kind of celebrity, kind of a proto viral celebrity. Oprah Winfrey just can't compete.You will understand everything after listening to this podcast. Thanks for joining us.

Hollywood usually loves a sequel. Trump's reelection? Not so much. His forthcoming second term has the town feeling “resigned,” says Richard Rushfield (even if James Carville thinks he won't survive all four years). But M&A-obsessed CEOs aren't so downtrodden. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty, Richard and David Lidsky break down potential winners and losers, and deal scenarios — including a pro-con debate over Big Tech buying studios — and why the industry needs to learn the value of authenticity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FAST services are heralded for stratospherically high subscriber totals. Tubi has 80 million monthly active users, Roku's got 85.5 million — Samsung is even at 88 million. So how come none of them are turning a profit? Elaine Low, Richard Rushfield and Sean McNulty evaluate free TV's struggle (and how paid streaming compares). Plus: What Harris or Trump would mean for industry M&A; and NBCUniversal's mysterious “study” of whether to spin off its cable networks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood is a relationship business. So can you learn from your bosses, network and get promoted if you're working from home? Nicole LaPorte talks to Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield about the divide over remote work as Lionsgate and Amazon mandate five days in office, and agents and execs warn that young Hollywood's work-life balance may come at a professional cost. Plus: What Disney's buying for Hulu, FX and ABC while the company's Iger succession drama takes another turn. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An unprecedented election, two wars, deadly hurricanes. Yet CNN's average primetime TV audience dropped to just 853,000 total viewers during September. Ankler contributor Lachlan Cartwright joins Sean McNulty, Richard Rushfield and David Lidsky to discuss his scoop-filled blockbuster about sweeping changes coming to CNN, chief Mark Thompson's pay cut on the table for Chris Wallace, star salary “beheadings” and a digital makeover inspired by . . . Vice?! Plus: WBD fills its NBA-sized hole with every random league under the sun. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobody is arguing Joker: Folie à Deux was a success. But it took a ballsy, director-led swing, followed up on a rare R-rated smash hit and — oh yeah — fought to shoot in L.A. Does it really deserve the pile-on? Elaine Low, Richard Rushfield and David Lidsky break down why cinema's sudden “Flop Era” is actually a positive (seriously), and what it has to do with a new report that reveals how drastically production is down, particularly in L.A. Plus: Manori Ravindran surveys brand-funded series beyond Chick-fil-A, and Richard dives into his exposé of the Golden Globes' questionable under-the-radar Sharon Stone gala in Turkey, a country with a wildly antisemitic Trump-buddy dictator. Where could you read about it? Not in Jay Penske's many trades. Ooof! Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In business, there is a new power hierarchy now, reports Dealmakers columnist Ashley Cullins: AI companies flush with cash at top; next, the studios that have the content AI players crave; and at the bottom, talent. Ashley dives into how agents, reps and execs are scrambling to protect clients and IP — all while fighting for a piece of the $10 billion in AI fees projected to flood entertainment in 2025. Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield also talk what Disney's studio contraction signals about a potentially more entrepreneurial future in TV, and how Sony pulled off its drama-free CEO transition. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sept. 27 marked the first anniversary of the end of the writers strike and while pay bumps and streaming bonuses (for two blockbuster shows) are great, the business remains in a world of hurt. Elaine Low, Richard Rushfield and David Lidsky explore the seismic production pullback, newly instated minimums as maximums — and why Richard wants negotiators from both sides in a penalty box for three years. Plus: John Malone's master plan for WBD, and the gang tries to make a movie using AI. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The titular stars of the road trip documentary Will & Harper, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele are reuniting to talk about the film with eager audiences around the country— and they're still busy trying to make each other laugh, too. The episode also includes a conversation between Katey and The Ankler's Richard Rushfield about the biggest burning questions of awards season, from whether this is finally Netflix's year to the relevance of the Golden Globes. Subscribe to the Prestige Junkie newsletter.  Follow Katey on X and Letterboxd.  Follow The Ankler. 

How do you follow the all-mighty Bob Iger? In the case of Bob Chapek, you don't. The current public bake-off for whoever's next already has been unsettling, as Richard Rushfield dispels the superhero CEO myth and evaluates how the perception of such actually harms his eventual successor and Disney itself. Plus: Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard analyze the upcoming box office slate and hit the lido deck for a bit of fall TV nostalgia. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Zaslav, on a break from sitting courtside at elite sporting events, has a new idea to help save WBD: Give HBO away for free to Charter cable subscribers. Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield analyze why and what it means amid growing warnings of “chaos” and industry consolidation from leaders including Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra and Ari Emanuel. Plus: Katey Rich previews the Emmys and early Oscar buzz, and Matthew Frank tips everyone to Hollywood's new Wild West: legal gambling on movies. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As everywhere from Alabama to Bulgaria battle to attract productions with tax incentives, studios are saying bye, y'all to Hollywood. With shoots being exported all over the globe, what happens to those who came to Los Angeles to have an entertainment career? Ankler contributor Ashley Cullins joins to break down the production location war — and L.A.'s plan to fight back. Plus, Sean McNulty and Elaine Low explain the Disney-DirecTV carriage dispute, and Richard Rushfield reports from the scene as TIFF begins. Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entertainment reporter Richard Rushfield discusses how silicon valley and stockholders tried to make sure bets and wound up destroying the infrastructure of Hollywood. We also talk about comedy, movies, being a pessimist, and the notion that storytelling will continue no matter what. Bio: Richard Rushfield founded The Ankler in January 2022. Called a “hit Hollywood newsletter” by the New York Times the Ankler is the number one go to information source for Hollywood Insiders who really want to know what's going on inside Hollywood.  has covered Hollywood and American culture as a reporter, editor and critic for over 20 years. A native of Los Angeles, he had a first career as a grassroots political field organizer, working for the 1992 campaign of Bill Clinton, among others. He began covering L.A. as a reporter for Los Angeles magazine, later working as a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and author of its long-running Intelligence Report column. Additionally, he was an editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, Gawker, BuzzFeed and Yahoo and was editor-in-chief of the website Hitfix. Richard is also the author of three books.